When the Bottle Breaks
by FadingSunlight
Summary: When Percy snaps at the gods in front of the campers, then walks out, everyone is shocked. Horrified, even. So, what does Annabeth do? Try to find him of course. After both series. Mentions of suicide, but nothing really happens.


**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, I just came up with this while thinking about SAO and LoZ. I was wondering what would happen if a hero just decided, "Enough!" This was not originally meant to be a Percy Jackson fanfic, so…yeah. This happens after the Giant War, so this is basically something that happens after everything's said and done. Oh yeah, warning for _mention of_ _suicide. Possible trigger._**

 **DISCLAIMER: Why, thank you very much for SOLIDIFYING THE FACT THAT I OWN NOTHING!...ah-hem. I think you get the idea.**

* * *

He threw his sword down.

"No."

One simple word caused complete silence.

"I won't do this anymore. I _can't_ do this anymore."

If they didn't realize the severity of the situation before, they certainly did now.

"I've seen too many people die…and for what? What could this possibly accomplish? By the time I get back, back to the real world, there'll be nothing of the _real_ me left. The people back home don't want a broken _child._ "

Their eyes were widening as they heard him go on and on. They just assumed he was fine, never stopped to ask. He never acted in a worrying way. _He_ was the cheerful one that always made them laugh. Now here they were, paying for not asking.

"You keep asking more and more of me, until there's nothing left to give. Even then, you kept asking. Did you never stop to think about what that did to me? I was 12, and knew nothing of this world when it started, and it's only gotten worse the older I got. Percy, go get this even though you barely know where to look. Percy, don't save your friends. Percy, keep everyone from dying. Percy, win this war. Oh, you already did that? Here, win another one. _Don't you see?_ You guys keep shoving everything at me, and I'm done. I'm done."

Here, his voice cracked. Demigods and gods watched in horrified fascination, like one would watch a car crash. The silence was broken only by his steps, leading their best and most powerful away.

He never looked back.

* * *

Once he escaped into the streets of New York, he broke down. Not due to the others calling for him, or for what he left. No, it was due to all the stress and pain that he'd bottled up for _years._ Not once had one of the campers asked him if was really, truly okay. Only his mom ever asked that. He was _expected_ to start running the moment he knew he was a demigod. Others were given months, years before they needed to really get going. From the get-go, nobody told him what was happening, or gave him a straight answer. If they had, many things wouldn't have happened. He could have saved more people, people that he couldn't help due to a lack of information. Even _Chiron_ didn't give him all the information. Seeing the orientation video would have been _very helpful._ He wouldn't have made such a fool of himself, and people would have been more open. Heck, _he_ would have been more open with others if they didn't automatically label him an idiot. Then he wouldn't have bottled everything up, and wouldn't have exploded in the Throne Room. Now the demigods and gods were probably looking for him. Well, if Percy Jackson didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be. He'd like to see them try.

Now, to head off to one place _nobody_ would expect him to go. Home.

* * *

"Hi Mom!"

"Oh, Percy! What are you doing here? I thought you'd be at camp!"

"Well, the camp visited Mount Olympus, and I decided to drop by…"

Sally looked at Percy.

"What happened?"

"…It was nothing Mom."

"Percy, tell me."

She was using that stern tone that said she was going to get her answer no matter what.

"Well, I kind of blew up at the gods…"

As Percy told Sally what happened, she got more and more worried.

"So, they're looking for you now? You need to get out of New York then. I guess that means you won't be visiting any time soon. I won't tell the gods you were here."

Percy felt a flow of affection towards his amazing mother.

"Thanks Mom, I'll call Blackjack."

"No, you'll be taking your new car. They would be expecting you to take Blackjack, and black pegasi aren't exactly common."

"Wait, you got me a car?!"

"Yes Percy. Take it as an early birthday present. I love you."

"Love you too Mom. Bye."

Percy hugged his mom, and then drove off.

* * *

"Where could he be?! He couldn't have left New York already, because we would have seen his pegasus, Blackjack flying. A black pegasus isn't very inconspicuous."

"Yes, and he's not wise enough to think about that."

The Olympians were arguing about where Percy went. Meanwhile, Hestia was over by the fire, smiling. She could sense that he went home, because of what she was the goddess of. None of the Olympians would notice that she was smiling, due to how involved they were in their argument. Also, she believed that Percy was right in what he said, and needed some time with his mother. The missing Hero of Olympus had Hestia on his side.

* * *

 **IF YOU DID NOT READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE PLEASE DO THAT NOW! IMPORTANT FOR SOME VIEWERS' SAFETY!**

Annabeth was worried about Percy. It wasn't exactly a rare occurrence by now (especially after Tartarus), but still. When someone runs out after saying things like _that,_ who knew what he'd do. Some of the things he said… Well, they made it seem like he was considering suicide. Annabeth was reasonable sure that wasn't what he meant, but there was that 25% chance that that was what he meant. After all, it wasn't like he didn't have a lot of nice tall buildings around, and he had Riptide with him (after he stormed out, it disappeared, and that meant it was back in his pocket). So he _could_ do something like that.

"Look! Up there! Oh my god, he's going to jump!" Someone was shouting on the streets. Annabeth immediately thought it was him.

 _Percy, wait! Don't do it!_

* * *

As it turned out, the jumper was _not_ Percy. The "jumper" never even stuck a toe over the building edge. He was just a freak who got kicks out of making people scream.

Annabeth wasn't amused. No, she was very, _very angry_. Now she was even more worried than before. Luckily, that was when she ran into Sally.

"Oh, hi Mrs. Jackson."

"Hello Annabeth. I need to talk to you. Oh, and please call me Sally."

From her tone, Annabeth could deduce that it was about Percy.

"I saw him earlier. You don't have to worry."

A massive wave of relief passed over Annabeth.

"Thanks so much! But, did he tell you where he was going…?"

"No. But he told me he was trying to avoid _them_ ," at this Sally looked up, "even though he wanted to stay near us."

Immediately, Annabeth knew where he was going. How could she not, he did tell her about his quest in the land beyond the gods. Alaska.

"Thanks Mrs. Ja-Sally. That helps a lot, I can find him now."

"You're welcome. Have a safe trip! And try to keep Percy in line, will you?"

"I will!"

 _Seaweed Brain, I'm coming._


End file.
